Robert Thomson

Associate Professor of Lighting Design

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Robert Thomson is widely recognized as one of Canada’s most versatile and active theater, opera and dance lighting designers. His acclaimed designs are noted for their precision, visual poetry, psychological insight and dramaturgical impact.

Over the past 40 years his distinguished design career has taken him on numerous international design assignments in Stuttgart, Geneva, Hong Kong, Edinburgh, and Melbourne. In the United States, his designs have been featured at Lincoln Center Theater, Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Seattle Opera, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet and Miami Ballet.

Mr. Thomson’s career includes a vast experience in design for repertory companies. He served as Resident Lighting Designer for The National Ballet of Canada for twelve seasons. His numerous company projects include Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Spring Awakening, The Taming of the Shrew, and Manon. He has designed for Canada’s renowned repertory theater, the Shaw Festival for twenty-four seasons. His credits include a ten-year term as Head of Lighting Design, Picnic, St. Joan, Man and Superman, Pygmalion, Cavalcade and Cyrano de Bergerac.

Over thirteen consecutive seasons with Canada’s prestigious Stratford Festival, North America’s largest repertory company, his numerous collaborators include directors Jonathan Miller, Des McAnuff, Robert Falls, Jennifer Tarver, Peter Hinton, Christopher Newton, and current Artistic Director, Antoni Cimolino. His 29 Stratford Festival design assignments include Beaux Stratagem, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Cymbeline, Caesar and Cleopatra, Dangerous Liaisons, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet and Into the Woods.

He studied theater design at Ryerson University in Toronto and The Studio and Forum of Stage Design in New York City. He began his professional career in the late 70’s at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto working extensively with founding Artistic Director, Bill Glassco. Their collaborations on a large range of new scripts that now represent much of the early canon of Canadian plays. Since then he has worked with a diverse range of companies all across Canada including the National Arts Centre, Canadian Stage, Canadian Opera Company, Citadel Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Pacific Opera Victoria, Charlottetown Festival, Vancouver Playhouse, Theatre Calgary, L’Opéra de Montréal, Opera de Québec, and Montreal’s Centaur Theatre and Segal Centre.

Mr. Thomson has received numerous awards including Canada’s largest theater prize: the prestigious Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize In Theatre; a Sterling Award for Edmonton Opera’s mounting of Robert Lepage’s internationally acclaimed first opera Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung; and four of Canada’s coveted Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

Robert Thomson is a member of L’Association des professionnels des arts de la scène du Québec (APASQ) and a 40-year member of the Associated Designers of Canada – now IATSE ADC Local 659, with whom he is a Charter Member.

Nica Ross

Associate Professor of Video & Media Design
Director, The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry

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I have the unique pleasure of connecting with researchers and creators across campus via my position as Director of The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. I bring my passion for liveness, human connection and DRAMA! to the role and I derive so much joy from indulging in transdiciplinary practice every day. As a professor of Video and Media Design I focus on critical applied learning. Together we put tools in our hands, question where these tools came from, critically examine what we are building, discuss our own context and challenge our assumptions while we build worlds together. And we have a lot of fun doing it.

Nica Ross is an artist, educator and cultural producer located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA. Through humor and play Nica creates participatory video installations and games that reveal and challenge social constructions that are reinforced by technology and performance.

Nica holds a B.A. in Cinema from San Francisco State University and an M.F.A. in Advanced Photographic Study from The International Center of Photography-Bard College program. Nica has worked in a wide array of expanded media, theater and event production on both commercial and artistic projects. They have worked with 3-Legged Dog Media & Theater Group, The Joshua Light Show along with many individual artists. Presently they are Director of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and Associate Professor of Video and Media Design in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama.

Joe Pino

Professor of Sound Design

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Joe began teaching in the School of Drama in 1999. He teaches conceptual sound design, modular synthesis, Kyma, film sound design, ear training and audio technology in the sound design program.

Joe Pino is a professor of sound design specializing in content and conceptual design. After receiving his MFA in directing from University Of Virginia, he left that field and spent time mixing in jazz clubs for artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Sun Ra, Michael Hedges and Nancy Wilson. Following that, Joe returned to theater as a designer creating soundscores for theatrical productions. Over the last forty years he has produced soundscores for hundreds of productions across the US. In 2005 he was awarded the first ever sound design gold medal at World Stage Design in Toronto. He served as the head of the international sound design commission of the International Organization of Scenographers Technicians and Theater Architects (OISTAT) from 2013-2021. Starting in 2007, he has regularly curated workshops, presentations and exhibits for the Prague Quadrennial.

He began teaching in the School of Drama in 1999. Over the years he has taught a variety of courses for students at all levels and in all disciplines, undergraduate and graduate, and was co-coordinator of the Drama’s Design Option for eight years. His teaching focuses on process and helping students develop artistic practices that will sustain them over a long career in an ever changing field.

Gianni Downs

Adjunct Faculty, Scenic Design

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Gianni teaches skills-based classes in the Scenic Design area including Vectorworks, Design for Screens, and Introduction to Design.

Gianni Downs is an Associate Teaching Professor in Scenic Design and Scenic Painting at the University of Pittsburgh and moonlights here at CMU school of Drama as an Adjunct Instructor. His work has been nationally recognized with a Kevin Kline Award and two nominations for productions at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, as well as an Irene Ryan nomination for designs at Stoneham Theatre. He is the recipient of the 2017 Tina and David Bellet Teaching Excellence Award and with his colleague Annmarie Duggan: the 2019 Provost’s Personalized Education Grant, as well as both the 2018 and 2015 Innovation in Education Awards. Gianni received his MFA from Brandeis University, served as adjunct faculty at Point Park University, and is a proud member of United Scenic Artist local USA829.